Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flew back to India after holding bilateral talks with Donald Trump and addressing a rally in the United States. The issue of illegal immigration was also addressed by Prime Minister Modi during the informal press conference before the bilateral talks. While PM Modi vouched for a crackdown on human traffickers, two more US aircraft are likely to land at Amritsar Airport this weekend. As per New Indian Express, two US aircraft will carry 119 Indians and will land at Amritsar Airport on Saturday and Sunday.
The report suggests that one of the flights is expected to land on Saturday (February 15) and another flight on Sunday (February 16) at the Guru Ram Dass Intentional Airport in Amritsar. In the latest batch of deportees, 67 are from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Rajasthan and Maharashtra, and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Before this, US military aircraft landed at Amritsar Airport on February 5 carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants. Out of 104 deportees, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 were residents of Punjab and the rest were from other states.
What did PM Modi say about the deportation of Indians?
"..Those who stay in other countries illegally do not have any legal right to be there. As far as India and the US are concerned, we have always said that those who are verified and are truly the citizens of India - if they live in the US illegally, India is ready to take them back. But it doesn't stop just there for us. These are people from ordinary families," said PM Modi.
"They are shown big dreams and most of them are such who are misled and brought here. So, we should attack this entire system of human trafficking. Together, it should be the effort of the US and India to destroy such an ecosystem from its roots so that human trafficking ends...Our bigger fight is against that entire ecosystem and we are confident that President Trump will fully cooperate with India in finishing this ecosystem," added PM Modi on Thursday at a news conference after bilateral talks with President Donald Trump.
The deportations are part of the U.S.’s strict immigration policies, enforced after President Donald Trump assumed office for the second time. A large number of the deported individuals had taken significant financial risks to immigrate, with many selling their homes and taking heavy loans to pursue their dreams in the U.S. Most of the Punjabis deported are currently struggling under severe financial burdens.